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Halladay strong as Blue Jays top Red Sox

Aug 17, 2008 - 3:42 AM By Mike Petraglia PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) -- Roy Halladay got a measure of revenge and the Toronto Blue Jays spoiled the Boston debut of Paul Byrd.

Halladay went the distance, Alex Rios belted a two-run homer and Adam Lind added a solo shot as the Blue Jays topped the Red Sox, 4-1, on Saturday.

Halladay (14-9) was dominant, scattering seven hits and one walk while striking out four in recording his major league-leading eighth complete game - the 34th of his career.

"It was great," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said. "It was Doc being Doc. He pitched a great game. We played great on defense. Rios got some big hits. It was kind of a team effort along with Doc (Halladay) pitching the way he's pitched all year."

Dustin Pedroia spoiled Halladay's bid for his 11th career shutout, however, driving the first pitch of the ninth inning into the seats above the "Green Monster" in left field for his 11th homer.

"He should make a pitching video," Pedroia said of Halladay's mastery. "He's pretty tough. He throws strikes, he's got great stuff and it's tough to get into a rhythm on him because he's creating his own rhythm for himself. We didn't get anything going. We hit some balls good but not enough to get anything started. He pretty much controlled us the whole night and that's why he pretty much one of the best in the league."

Six days earlier, Halladay was outdueled by Byrd, who threw a complete game for Cleveland in a 4-2 win over Toronto.

"It was nice to get out there in front of the fans and compete," Byrd said. "It was kind of a weird game. I thought righthanded (batters) hurt me a little bit which is unusual. I'm not happy that we lost, I never am, but I saw some things out there that made me feel that I would be a very good fit for this team."

Byrd, acquired on Tuesday in a trade with the Indians, was roughed up immediately as the first three batters collected hits. One of those was Rios, who drilled a long two-run homer into the second row of the "Monster" seats to put Toronto up, 2-0.

"The pitch to Rios bothers me," Byrd said of his misplaced changeup. "I think I was just trying to strike some people out. I was just a little excited, trying to overthrow. I settled down after that, just got ground balls, fly balls, which is kind of my game, just putting the ball in play."

It was the first home run allowed by Byrd (7-11) since Delmon Young of Minnesota launched a shot on July 4, snapping a string of 37 1/3 innings.

Rios entered the contest 1-for-11 lifetime against Byrd.

Byrd scattered three hits over the next four innings before Lind drove a 2-0 pitch into the "Monster" seats for a 3-0 lead.

But Byrd still managed to give the Red Sox 7 1/3 innings, allowing four runs and 10 hits.

"I thought it was what we expected," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "(Byrd) threw a lot of strikes, got deep in the game. He left a changeup up to Rios for the early two (runs). We got in a situation late where we had to play the infield in. On a lot of nights, that was probably good enough. Not tonight. Halladay was too much for us, cutting it, sinking it, throwing a lot of strikes with good stuff down in the zone."

Byrd became the first Red Sox pitcher since Bret Saberhagen on July 31, 1998 to pitch at least seven innings without recording a walk or strikeout.

"He did fine but we obviously didn't score any runs," Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek said. "We got ourselves a little behind the eight ball with the two-run homer in the first. He really settled in and was able to pitch and kept us in the game. Hopefully, that's what we're going to get out of him."

Halladay worked his way out of trouble in the first, when J.D. Drew lined out to center with runners on first and second to end Boston's rally.

"The big key is, obviously, try not to walk guys with their lineup," Halladay said. "I did it early. Fortunately, it was two outs and I was able to work out of it. It's a team you want to be aggressive with and try and do things as early as you can in the count."

Halladay allowed leadoff singles by Jason Bay in the second and fifth and Varitek in the third, but the Red Sox were unable to mount a scoring threat.

"I think you approach each guy separately, but it's obviously different, seeing Manny here so long," Halladay said of the Red Sox lineup without Manny Ramirez. "He definitely was a force in the lineup and I think Jason Bay is going to be that, too, and has been that so far. But it's different not seeing him there, yeah."